Crush
by redcandle
Summary: Katie Bell ponders her crush on a certain Slytherin Quidditch Captain. MarcusKatie.


"Crush" by Redcandle17

Disclaimer: All recoginzable characters and elements from the Harry Potter series belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Oliver Wood was handsome, that much was true. And he loved spending time with Katie. Unfortunately, all that time involved reciting and demonstrating Quidditch plays. Other girls may chase after Oliver, but his Chasers knew better.

Cedric Diggory was perfect. He was as close to Prince Charming as any wizard could be. He was gorgeous, intelligent, athletic, and sincerely nice. Katie admired him, like everyone else, but she didn't harbor any fantasies about him. There was something missing from Cedric. He was…bland.

Katie's pool of potential crushes was quite small, since she only considered worthy boys who played Quidditch. Harry Potter was younger than her, which automatically crossed him off of her list. Fred and George weren't serious enough – Katie found them funny, but she wasn't sure anyone whose hobby was playing jokes could be fully trusted. Besides, she couldn't tell them apart – how would she know which one to date?

The other Hufflepuff players weren't as extraordinary as Cedric. They were too Hufflepuff-ish for Katie's taste. The Ravenclaws all had some flaw Katie couldn't overlook. For example, Roger Davies was promiscuous – the thought of kissing someone who'd kissed half the school was repulsive - while Roy Summers seemed more interested in books than people.

Katie didn't even consider the Slytherin Quidditch players. Not at all.

Except that she kept staring at Marcus Flint during meals. She only became aware of this bizarre habit when she found herself craning her neck around Lee Jordan to get a good look at the Slytherin table.

"What's got your attention like that, Katie?" Lee asked.

"Nothing," Katie said, and kept her gaze firmly at her own table for the rest of dinner.

This was strange. Why Flint? If she had to develop a crush on a Slytherin, why couldn't it have been someone other than the Troll himself?

Malfoy was too young, and she'd never found blonde hair attractive on males anyway. Bole and Derrick were utter idiots, which was an unforgivable sin in Katie's opinion. She couldn't really find anything wrong with Bletchley, Montague, Pucey, and Warrington other than them being Slytherins. They were also all better looking than Flint, as well as closer to her age.

Flint was not handsome by any stretch of the imagination. If Katie had to use one word to describe Flint's appearance, it would be "intimidating." It wasn't simply his height or his build, it was the way he looked at people. It was the way he spoke, the way it sparked some primitive instinct to obey him.

Really, he was the most inappropriate object of any fourteen year old girl's interest.

And he'd made Katie cry once. When she was twelve years old and had just made the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he'd threatened to throw her off her broom during the upcoming game. He'd looked so menacing and sounded so serious, Katie had fled the hallway in tears.

He's mean and ugly, Katie reminded herself. Though she couldn't stop doing it, watching Flint scared her. It made her want things she didn't understand and thought she shouldn't feel.

When she was bored in class, while Professor Binns droned on and on about goblins, Katie allowed herself to daydream. Alarmingly, fantasies of winning the Quidditch World Cup as England's star Chaser had been replaced by scenes of what might happen if she and Flint somehow ended up alone in the broomshed.

"You're blushing!" Leanne whispered.

"No, I'm not," Katie denied, feeling her face burn. "Did you catch that last bit? Think it'll be on the exam?"

But Flint hadn't only invaded her daydreams. She'd started dreaming about him at night as well. She told herself that they were nightmares - never mind that they were far from terrifying while she slept. When she awoke, it scared her how much she'd enjoyed them.

Next weekend, Katie walked around Hogsmeade with Cormac McLaggen, pretending to listen to him boasting about his family's Montrose Magpies season tickets. Then Flint walked by and Katie forgot to murmur appreciatively.

"I said…" Cormac's voice trailed off as he followed Katie's line of sight. Then he bellowed, "Flint! Flint! You fancy Flint!"

"Shhh, you're drawing attention," Katie said, trying to quiet him. "Don't be silly. Of course, I don't fancy Flint. The very thought is absurd!"

Cormac laughed. "Well, yeah, I guess. He looks like a troll. No decent girl would…"

Katie tuned out Cormac's litany of all that was wrong with Marcus Flint. She was just going to have to accept that she had a massive crush on Flint and pray no one ever found out. There was nothing else to do. Flint would leave Hogwarts in a couple of months and hopefully he'd stop haunting her once she no longer saw him every day. Until then…

_Marcus is a very sexy name. Flint's good, too. Marcus Flint. That is one fabulous name. Katie Flint doesn't sound too bad either._

End


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